It addresses controlling numbers after removing the preliminary rounds through minimum technical scores, but the requirements look really high to me, particularly for Worlds. Just going on the scores from Worlds last year only the top 15-17 in each discipline would meet the required score for Worlds next season. (Obviously a few more would sneak in looking at the scores over the whole season, but annoyingly the ISU doesn't break down the SB list into TES and PCS...)
Does anyone know what the required scores were this year for comparison purposes?

They're also introducing minimum scores for Junior Worlds, and those scores are not low.

So federations will need to make sure anyone who they hope to send to Junior Worlds, who is capable of earning those scores, has gotten JGP or other international assignments as an opportunity to earn the minimum score.

How many junior internationals take place in January and February, for surprise junior national champs or junior skaters who were injured in the fall?

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Good questions.

From ISU Communication No. 1742, Decisions of the ISU Council:

The Minimum Total Technical Scores for the season 2012/13 decided by the Council after consultation with the respective Technical Committees and the Sports Directorate are as follows:

The Minimum Total Technical Score (not including Component Scores) is a Technical Score and must have been reached in an ISU recognized International Competition (as per Article 38, paragraph 7 of the ISU Constitution and Rule 107, paragraphs 1 to 9 of the ISU General Regulations) during the ongoing or immediately preceding season in both segments, Short Program/Short Dance and Free Skating/Free Dance (See ISU Special Regulations Single & Pair Skating Ice Dance 2010, Rule 378, paragraph 3).

While the Minimum Total Technical Score must be reached separately in each segment (not a total of the two segments), the Minimum Total Technical Score for each segment may be reached at different competitions.

So this will decrease the participation of developing federations in the ISU championships.

It should increase the importance of non-championship international competitions. Which feds will step up to offer more of those -- especially outside Europe, and especially in the winter for skaters who have a breakout at their national championships (or newly formed teams) but didn't have fall assignments?

I wonder if the result will be score inflation like at nationals, but at senior Bs?

Judges from smaller federations will have an interest in getting their skaters to meet these scores. If they score ALL the skaters higher, then there is no bias toward their own skater and there is still fairness in reaching the podium, but it will help skaters qualify for championships.

It is weird how they always say scores can't be compared across competitions, but then set a number that has to be reached at a different competition to compare to. A skater who scores a 35 at one competition may not be at the same level of one who scores it at another...

So federations will need to make sure anyone who they hope to send to Junior Worlds, who is capable of earning those scores, has gotten JGP or other international assignments as an opportunity to earn the minimum score.

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Since all but one of the competitions are in Europe, and the exception may be in Istanbul, depending on where the rink is located, this will mean for everyone else.

The minimum score for Worlds is absolutely ridiculous! Even some of the better Ladies wouldnt meet this minimum score for the World Championships, let alone all the skaters from smaller federations. I am so sad we will never see skaters from smaller federations at Worlds again. The ISU destroyed the Championships with this new rule. I cant believe they increased it so drastically, its horrible! ((

It is weird how they always say scores can't be compared across competitions, but then set a number that has to be reached at a different competition to compare to. A skater who scores a 35 at one competition may not be at the same level of one who scores it at another...

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We say this all the time, but has anyone from the ISU ever said this?

According to 1742, based on Congress' decision to remove the Preliminary round, the Council made the decision to raise the TES minimums for championships; they don't need Congress' approval to do this.

Their stated goal:
"to achieve an Event Schedule manageable for the respective Organizing Committees, the Skaters and Officials as well as respecting engagements with host and commercial partners"

They also built in the caveat:

However, if it became evident that the number of entries based on the Minimum Total Technical Scores listed below would be significantly higher or lower than expected, the ISU Council reserves the right to subsequently slightly re-adjust the Minimum Total Technical Scores in order to achieve the above mentioned objective.

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There's also the "Canada*" clause:

"Even with these Minimum Total Technical Scores which limit the entries to the necessary reasonable level as described above, the abolishment of the Preliminary Rounds will most likely result in higher expenses for the organizers. The ISU will evaluate these financial aspects on a case by case basis with each organizing Member in order to find a reasonable and satisfactory solution fair to all parties and respecting as much as possible the 2012-2014 ISU Budget.

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*Of course it also applies to all of the other assigned championships that will be impacted by the Congress' decision, but Skate Canada shouted the loudest.

... In the case of the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships for which normally no Minimum Total Technical Scores are in place, the Council introduces such Minimum Total Technical Scores based on the powers granted to the Council through the ISU Constitution, Article 17.1.q).

Based on the experience of the past season, the Minimum Total Technical Scores listed below [see post #1 for excerpt] should result in the above-mentioned goal of achieving a number of competitor entries that allow to have an Event Schedule manageable for the respective Organizing Committees, the Skaters and Officials as well as respecting engagements with host and commercial partners. However, if it became evident that the number of entries based on the Minimum Total Technical Scores listed below would be significantly higher or lower than expected, the ISU Council reserves the right to subsequently slightly re-adjust the Minimum Total Technical Scores in order to achieve the above-mentioned objective.

The minimum score for Worlds is absolutely ridiculous! Even some of the better Ladies wouldnt meet this minimum score for the World Championships, let alone all the skaters from smaller federations. I am so sad we will never see skaters from smaller federations at Worlds again. The ISU destroyed the Championships with this new rule. I cant believe they increased it so drastically, its horrible! ((

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You have a point. 20.00 is reasonable. At 28.00, of the 30 skaters who skated the short program, only ten earned 28.00 or more.

Possibly 5 or 6 others who didn't may have earned that score internationally prior to the event.

The minimum score for Worlds is absolutely ridiculous! Even some of the better Ladies wouldnt meet this minimum score for the World Championships, let alone all the skaters from smaller federations. I am so sad we will never see skaters from smaller federations at Worlds again. The ISU destroyed the Championships with this new rule. I cant believe they increased it so drastically, its horrible! ((

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Just to make it clear - the member federations who voted for the deletion of the Qualifying Rounds did "destroy" the championships. This was not a proposal from the ISU.

I wonder if the result will be score inflation like at nationals, but at senior Bs?

Judges from smaller federations will have an interest in getting their skaters to meet these scores. If they score ALL the skaters higher, then there is no bias toward their own skater and there is still fairness in reaching the podium, but it will help skaters qualify for championships.

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I have a hard time imagining this happening, the skaters could get some help, but the skaters will need the higher level jumps and spins to really be able to compete. I don't suddenly see a rush of judges awarding +2 or +3 GOEs for double flips or lutzes.

So this will decrease the participation of developing federations in the ISU championships.

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I agree with this observation.

I wonder how long countries like India, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Malaysia, and the list goes on....will pay to be members if their skaters cannot compete in any ISU Championships.
An even more important question is...can they still vote at the ISU if none of their skaters compete in ISU Championships over a certain period of time..or do they retain a 'guest membership' as long as they pay their dues.
Hmmmm...some candidates for leader would be interested in seeing them retain voting rights, I am sure.

When there were the qualifying rounds, each skater (from the smaller skating federations) had only one chance to qualify, and the number of places were limited. Now the skaters need to reach some qualifying score, but they may attend several competitions. They have as many attempts as their association can afford (or their own pocket can afford). They are not fighting for some limited amount of places, they are fighting to get the right score, so one could argue that it is in their own hands. There is a chance that more skaters will reach the score than if there was just a limit on the number of places who can qualify.

17 of 30 of the Ladies in Nice, 11 of the 24 who skated the FS, did not score 28 in the SP:

Marchei, McCorkell, Lacoste, Silete, Czisny, Lafuente, Korobeynikova, Popova, Hecken, Frank, Mikonsaari, and the six Ladies who didn't make the FS.

Silete and Korobeynikova earned the minimum at Euros (and may have at other competitions). Czisny at GPF, Popova and Silete at NRW, Frank and Marchei at International Challenge Cup.

Hecken narrowly missed at Nebelhorn. Lafuente narrowly missed at TEB. Lacoste's highest score was 26+. Unless I've missed a score, McCorkell and Mikonsaari weren't even close. All would have qualified for Euros/4C's, with a minimum of 20.

I didn't check the six who didn't make the free skate. Since the FS scores in the Prelims for those who didn't qualify for the SP ranged from 23-~37, I doubt that any of them scored 28 in the SP in international competition. (I didn't see any notable SP skaters in this group.)

17 of 30 of the Ladies in Nice, 11 of the 24 who skated the FS, did not score 28 in the SP:

Marchei, McCorkell, Lacoste, Silete, Czisny, Lafuente, Korobeynikova, Popova, Hecken, Frank, Mikonsaari, and the six Ladies who didn't make the FS.

Silete and Korobeynikova earned the minimum at Euros (and may have at other competitions). Czisny at GPF, Popova and Silete at NRW, Frank and Marchei at International Challenge Cup.

Hecken narrowly missed at Nebelhorn. Lafuente narrowly missed at TEB. Lacoste's highest score was 26+. Unless I've missed a score, McCorkell and Mikonsaari weren't even close. All would have qualified for Euros/4C's, with a minimum of 20.

I didn't check the six who didn't make the free skate. Since the FS scores in the Prelims for those who didn't qualify for the SP ranged from 23-~37, I doubt that any of them scored 28 in the SP in international competition. (I didn't see any notable SP skaters in this group.)

OMG! I didn't realise that skaters like Marchei, McCorkell, Lacoste, Silete, Czisny, Lafuente, Korobeynikova, Popova, Hecken, Frank, Mikonsaari wouldn't qualify! That's really harsh. But I think there will be a way around it, such as inflated scores at B competitions, because I can't imagine that they would want to have Worlds with only 13 ladies.

Also, the skaters will have more attempts than just one to reach the score.

They don't have to: the power lies in the hands of the ISU Council, not the Congress. They justified it in 1742 as having been in response to the vote by Congress, but they could have done it without the change.

Were they presented with the information of how exactly the qual. scores would change if the qualifying round was eliminated?

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One the one hand, I don't think the smaller federations would have voted for elimination of prelims if they had been told, but that assumes that they are that naive/stupid. The only upside for them is not paying expenses for skaters who don't make the later rounds, since the majority don't host championships. On the other hand, Canada knew enough to make a stink about not being able to afford Worlds with the elimination of preliminaries, and I doubt that David Dore didn't know.

OMG! I didn't realise that skaters like Marchei, McCorkell, Lacoste, Silete, Czisny, Lafuente, Korobeynikova, Popova, Hecken, Frank, Mikonsaari wouldn't qualify! That's really harsh. But I think there will be a way around it, such as inflated scores at B competitions, because I can't imagine that they would want to have Worlds with only 13 ladies.

Also, the skaters will have more attempts than just one to reach the score.

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Some of them would qualify- Czisny for example met it at Skate America and GPF. If I understand, they don't have to get that score at World's- they have to get it somewhere to qualify for worlds (though I can't get the document to open. Is there still a cut from SP to free?). Using Czisny's world's score (where she totally bombed) is a bit misleading. Others on that list met the score in other competitions.

BUT it does show that these "big name" skaters don't always meet that score- so there is very little hope for the low ranking skaters.

I do have a small amount of worry that if the field becomes so small at World's it will risk figure skating as an Olympic sport. The Olympics thinks that the competitiveness of multiple nations is a very important factor. If figure skating becomes all about one or two nations (like softball) it could be in trouble (though as a 'flagship' type sport, this is unlikely.)

OMG! I didn't realise that skaters like Marchei, McCorkell, Lacoste, Silete, Czisny, Lafuente, Korobeynikova, Popova, Hecken, Frank, Mikonsaari wouldn't qualify! That's really harsh. But I think there will be a way around it, such as inflated scores at B competitions, because I can't imagine that they would want to have Worlds with only 13 ladies.

Also, the skaters will have more attempts than just one to reach the score.

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As I wrote, Silete, Marchei, Czisny, Korobeynikova, Popova, and Frank met the minimum before Worlds. Lafuente and Hecken had at least one 27+-point score, and Lacoste a 26+-point score. Only McCorkell and Mikonsaari didn't come close to the Worlds minimum.

I was trying to give context to how high 28 TES is, based on last year's Worlds. All but two were capable of earning 28, and McCorkell could if she got back into shape, but it's going to be tough. Hecken had four tries -- one GP and three Senior B's -- and Lafuente one GP and two Senior B's.

Skate Canada would have had a problem in 2011-12 if these rules had been in place: neither Pfaneuf nor Lacoste earned the 28. (Both had 26.X.) The only Canadian to earn the new minimum would have been Kaetlyn Osmond, who earned 28.46 at Jr. Worlds.

It will be interesting to see if the minimum scores are applied to the Olympics. They likely will impact Olympic selection next year, especially if they're not adjusted. (If the ISU is monitoring scores to see the potential impact at Worlds, it would be very helpful if they maintained the list of highest SP scores, including international competitions, on the website.)

At this rate, perhaps the scenario where Canada does not qualify a Ladies' spot for Sochi at either London Worlds or the Olympic qualifier, and Rochette is enlisted to skate the team event is a little more likely.

It isn't who got the score in the short program at world's, but people who got the score anytime during the season who can qualify (then narrowed down by the country entry limits)

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Of course, but I'm not as hardcore to check every single SP TES. But I think the worlds results give a good indication; after all this is what they're all supposed to achieve.

Maybe they should scrap the country limits and just take the top X skaters from the season (by score, not by ranking- because the senior B's in Europe always skew that).

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I would HATE that.
Figure skating is a personal sport, but it's funded and supported by the federations; it's not tennis.
We already have the "private club" of the big federations, and it's called the GP series.